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It was done entirely by phone. What person under, say, 60 answers an unknown call on their phone at this point? And if they left a voicemail to call them back, who would trust it? Basically, they're getting extremely gullible people (i.e. mostly Trump voters) to respond to the poll.
I think the only way you can do successful polling at this point is focus groups with carefully selected demographics, and I would even be dubious there.
I participated in a few polls in 2020 and…yeah. I would pick them up because I was waiting for important calls. Why tf else would I pick up. I still get these calls sometimes, usually while waiting for a call back for a job.
Even if I did pick up the phone, which I doubt I would, I would think it was a scam.
I was waiting to hear back about a job then and answered a poll call about gambling. I very, very rarely gamble. And when I do it's like $50 on blackjack or something cuz my friends want to go to the casino here. That was a fun call cuz my answers were like "never", *rarely", "no". Lol
Dunno why I felt the need to share. I'm still drunk from my friends birthday party last night I think lol
It should also be said that polls are only responded to by people who a) have the time, and b) have something to say.
B alone is enough to make the respondents select for far more extreme than the average person. A also selects for… people who’ve got nothing else going on.
Shrooms have nothing to do with mass delusions. In fact, they may help cure them.
Yeah, a really stupid headline by someone who doesn't understand mushrooms.
Probably ate a few grams at a party one time and had a panic attack.
The more relevant drug is probably “huffing sister’s farts while engaging in incest in back woods like perfect GOP voter”
“You’d have to be out of your goddamned mind” got poo-poohed by the editorbot.
Underestimating this discarded foreskin is what got us here in the first place.
Don't get complacent.
This is deeply insulting to mushroom users, particularly given that people tend to be more empathetic because of those experiences, not less.
Shrooms specifically were a weird choice for the headline for sure. But it's just another variation on "drugs make you stupid and only teetotallers have an accurate perception of the world". It's really no less offensive than if they'd gone with "only a woman would believe..." or "you'd have to be a middle-school dropout to believe...". Like why? Why target some random group and call them out as idiots incapable of seeing what's right in front of their faces, when it has absolutely 0 to do with the content of the article? You'd have to be on PCP to believe this is a good way to write a headline :D
Don't get complacent. That's the most important takeaway. We need to not only beat Republicans, but to give them massive losses. We want them to lose by double digit margins so they realize fascism has no place in the US, and MAGA can ma-get the fuck out of here.
I'm really curious to read more about the poll itself later, just with how unusual this is. What in the methodology screwed it up? Or do they just have an incredibly wide confidence interval?
It's also worth remembering I think, polling was very wrong in the midterms. They suggested at best that Republicans would win by a little bit, and at worst the "red tidal wave". And we know now it was a trickle, that they can't even claim as a total victory. Dems gained a Senate seat, and a lot of important state government positions in swing states.
There's a few causes for this mismatch I believe:
There's a lot of shitty Republicans pollsters these days that provide a lot of low quality data.
Analysts overcorrected their models after 2020 and it undercounts Democrats.
The huge backlash for overturning Roe isn't being captured in polls for some reason. Abortion continues to be a huge issue that's benefitting Democrats. The economy and inflation were thought to be the largest drivers for the midterms, but if they were, people saw Democrats as the solution for that.
We want them to lose by double digit margins so they realize fascism has no place in the US, and MAGA can ma-get the fuck out of here.
These fascists aren't going to suddenly become sane democratic loving colleagues if MAGA falls out of fashion. Even if they put their masks back on, they're still going to be fascists.
The republican party needs to die. Scorched earth, razed to the ground. Democrats need a super majority, and then subsequently split into 2 or more parties to become the new 2 party system, or preferably ranked choice and have to work as a coalition.
Edit - and there needs to be a public education attempt at making the cultists masses understand the dangers of fascism, and that it's wrong. We currently have a culture war trying to rebrand the civil war and nazism as misunderstood. The parallels on nazi Germany are not hyperbole. We need public accountability and public education to aggressive stave this off before its too late.
There’s a few causes for this mismatch I believe:
Also keep in mind the sampling bias of only including people willing to take part in polls.
Unknown number? Stranger knocking at my door? I'm not answering.
Who the hell thought this headline idea is good wtf
It's kind of slanderous to mushrooms
Libelous. Slander is spoken. Libel is written.
Yes, that's true. I read it aloud to myself though.
People that haven't ever actually done any drugs before.
It seems to be part of a series called "Politics With Charles P. Pierce", which from the looks of it attempts to take a relaxed, informal take on an op-ed.
So the title seems fine for the context I think.
I just want to make it clear to everyone that being on mushrooms would not in any way make you think that. In fact, it’s pretty stupid to think that any drugs would do that. Anyone who believes in Trump probably needs some drugs
Putting aside a LOT of other issues, the reason we’re seeing more polls that are very clearly nonsense is twofold:
Trump might not be 20 points ahead of Biden, but you'd better fucking turn out at the poll like he is.
Fuck Trump. He belongs in prison.
Don't insult mushrooms like this, lmao, what did they ever do to hurt you?
I don't disagree, but those young voters still have to show up to vote or the result is the same. They didn't show up in the last election and my state anded up with a Republican supermajority.
That's encouraging, and also discouraging since it wasn't enough
"You'd have to be on mushrooms to think Trump will become president" > an annoying lot of people pre-2016.
If the young people that actually go out to vote happen to be the ones that like Trump, Tate, Musk and the like, then yeah, he can pull 100% ahead of Biden.
Polling is vote manipulative.
They publish it to try and suppress voters to make them feel like there's no chance. Then when they lose they can claim election fraud because the bogus polling had them winning. It's a common tactic Conservatives use now to suppress votes. People need to show up no matter what the polling or news is saying.
Don't knock mushrooms. They actually help you clear your mind and make good decisions.
that show the general election contest a virtual dead heat.
Jfc the US is such a dumpster fire.
I have absolutely no intention of voting for Trump, but if you ask me on a poll about it, I might tell the pollster that I plan to vote for Trump. I don’t want people getting too comfortable with an assumed outcome ever again.
Good for them for publishing an outlier poll while framing it appropriately. It happens, and releasing anyway shows integrity.